Kyle Wellwood, the kid with all the magical on-ice moves, has dipsy-doodled his way back to his natural centre position.

With Leafs captain Mats Sundin sidelined for at least three weeks with a slightly torn ligament in his right elbow, Wellwood has been moved from the wing to the middle, where he'll line up between towering wingers Nik Antropov and Alexei Ponikarovsky.

"I played with Nik and Pony a bit last year and Pony a lot this year, so it won't be too much of an adjustment for me," Wellwood said.

Wellwood --all 5-foot-10 of him --won't miss doing the grunt work in the corners usually handled by the larger men playing the flank.

"Definitely getting hit on the sideboards was a little tougher on you," Wellwood said. "I've definitely got to play in my own end more now (as a centre), so that's definitely the major adjustment.

"Having your best player out is definitely tough on your whole team. There are a lot of us who have played really well and we're going to have to take it up even another level for the next couple of weeks."

VETERANS

To this point, there are no signs Sundin's ailment is more serious than it was made out to be yesterday.

"We know that veterans like myself and Darcy (Tucker) must provide leadership even more in the absence of Mats, and we're prepared to do that," forward Michael Peca, the former captain of the Buffalo Sabres, said.